The brightest take on this week’s science

Imagine if each year, a simple spray of medicine up the nose could protect you from respiratory viruses, the common cold, bacterial pneumonia, and even spring allergies.

"That would transform medical practice,” says microbiologist Bali Pulendran from Stanford University.

In mice, a ‘universal’ vaccine can now protect against a host of viruses, bacteria, and allergies. It can even cut the risk of allergy-induced asthma.

Unlike other available vaccines, this new spray doesn’t require a jab, and it works using a unique mechanism.

The next step is to test the nasal spray in human clinical trials to ensure it is both safe and effective for our species.

Read more.

It’s not every day you find a Latin-inscribed marble stone in your backyard – least of all one that contains the phrase “spirits of the dead”.

Anthropologist Daniella Santoro, who lives in a historic home in New Orleans, knew she had found something special when she stumbled upon the slab.

Half-buried in the undergrowth, she thought she’d uncovered a long-lost grave.

It didn’t take long for local university experts to solve the mystery.

The Latin on the stone commemorated a Roman soldier who lived 1,900 years ago. So how did this artifact end up in the US?

It’s a long story…

Read more.

A) Flower stamen
B) Lung bronchiole
C) Black mold
D) Crab eyeball

Answer at the bottom.

One of the most common forms of cancer in the developed world may be linked to a virus, hiding within our gut bacteria.

Today, deadly colorectal cancers are rising in young people, and scientists are trying to figure out why.

In a large Danish population study, colorectal cancer patients showed more of a specific type of gut bacteria, and this bacterium often contained a virus.

A virus that lives and reproduces within bacteria is called a bacteriophage, and this particular one may be part of what is triggering the cancer.

Or maybe it’s a sign that something else has gone astray…

Read more.

Did you know that humans are some of the only mammals in the world that menstruate? Less than 2 percent of mammals are known to shed their uterine lining.

Plus, we’re one of the rare few to experience menopause.

On International Women’s Day, we’re digging into the evolutionary mysteries of the female body – and why pregnancy, menstruation, and menopause are so unusual in our species.

Check ScienceAlert this Sunday for more!

Slurpin’ up the science.

Microscope answer: Black mold

Under an electron microscope, the black mold microfungus looks like it contains little matchsticks dipped in hundreds-and-thousands. Each tiny dot is a spore, with the potential to drift away and seed another colony.